Mr. Lawson. Not that first time. As I looked back I looked right straight and saw the grassy median. Then the second and third shots, reports, I noticed the President's car back there, but I also noticed right after the reports an agent standing up with an automatic weapon in his hand, and the first thing that flashed through my mind, this was the only weapon I had seen, was that he had fired because this was the only weapon I had seen up to that time.
The events after that are a little bit jumbled, but I recall seeing Agent Hill on the rear of the President's car receiving a radio message that we should proceed to the nearest hospital. The nearest hospital was a continuation of our route.
Mr. Stern. Did you know that or were you told that?
Mr. Lawson. I knew that. Let me make a correction. I don't know if it was the nearest hospital, but I knew that it would be the fastest one that we could get to under the circumstances of where we were going under this freeway.
Mr. Stern. Did you know as part of your preparation or did you merely observe it in the arrangements you were making?
Mr. Lawson. I had observed this from all the times I had passed the hospital going over the route; yes, sir.
Mr. Stern. But it is not ordinarily a part of your advance work, or is it, to locate hospitals?
Mr. Lawson. This is not a part of our report, but quite often in my own report in other times I have listed hospitals and so forth, bed facilities in some of my other reports. I did not in this case, but I had noted this hospital.
Mr. Stern. But it is something you pay attention to yourself?
Mr. Lawson. Yes, sir; it is. Again we depend upon the police knowing the city even better naturally than the advance agent to get us to a hospital depending where we are or anything like that, that would occur.